The Planning Policy Manager introduced the report and reminded Members that the PTPWG agreed to consult on the Regulation 18 in July 2025. She referred to the NPPF being updated in 2024 along with the associated Planning Practice Guidance, several new pieces of evidence base and the Swale Climate and Ecological Emergency action plan documents being updated, a new Swale Affordable Housing Emergency being declared in April 2024 and the Town and Country Planning Association Healthy Homes Pledge being signed in May 2024. The Planning Policy Manager also drew attention to the adoption of a new Corporate Plan (2023-2027), setting out new objectives and priorities. She said all this information would be reflected in the Local Plan and the consultation would provide an early opportunity for the public and stakeholders to engage with elements of the Local Plan.

The Planning Policy Manager spoke about the style a Local Plan Regulation 18 could take and said Members had agreed the scope at a previous PTPWG meeting in July 2025 and these were visions, objectives, the portrait of the borough and the Development Management policies. She said a section on ‘Implementation and Monitoring’ would be included, but would be more detailed at the next stage of the Local Plan process.

The Planning Policy Manager drew attention that there were no strategic policies sitting above the Development Management policies within the Regulation 18, but they would be included at the Regulation 19 stage.  She said extensive informal engagement work was undertaken with Members during 2024 to draft Development Management Policies, and Policies had also been updated to reflect the revised December 2024 NPPF and other updated relevant evidence guidance base documents.  The Planning Policy Manager referred to the five new draft policies that Members had not previously seen, in the Climate Change chapter, and said they reflected the ambitions of the Council’s Climate and Ecological Emergency and had been discussed under a previous item on the Agenda.

Referring to the Sustainability Appraisal Scoping report, the Planning Policy Manager set out the process, and said that a Scoping Report was undertaken for the Local Plan Review in 2018 but had been refreshed due to the time that had lapsed, and was included in Appendix III.

The Planning Policy Manager drew attention to the challenging timeline and consultation process between Regulation 18 and Regulation 19, set out in Appendix 4.  She advised that in order to meet the deadlines, it was proposed that the Regulation 18 consultation ran for six weeks, from Monday 12 January 2026 until 5pm on Monday 23 February 2026, and officers were liaising with the Communications team on a range of engagement opportunities to enable wide ranging participation.

The Planning Policy Manager advised that the consultation questions within the document would be able to be responded to online via the consultation portal Objective, and general comments could be included.  She said all libraries and Council offices would hold hard copies of documents and The Swallows Leisure Centre, Sittingbourne would hold a copy whilst the Sittingbourne Library was undergoing a refurbishment.  The Planning Policy Manager said all Parish and Town Councils had been made aware of the consultation period at a Local Parish Councils’ Liaison Forum on 24 September 2025.  She said that following the consultation period, responses would be summarised and the main issues would be reported to a future PTPWG with recommendations on how issues might be addressed in the Regulation 19 Local Plan.

Finally, the Planning Policy Manager said that due to the breadth and complexity of the document, and the tight timescales to draft information within it, there would inevitably be some minor corrections required before the consultation in January 2026. She referred to recommendation (2) that proposed delegation to the Head of Planning in consultation with the Chair of the PTPWG to make any minor amendments and corrections prior to the start of the consultation period. She asked Members to inform officers in the team if they noted any minor errors.

The Chair thanked all those involved for their input into the document.

Members were invited to ask questions and make comments and these included:

·         Drew attention to 11.0.4 (Policy H4 Rural exception and community-led housing development) on page 507 and raised concern that rural exception sites might be bound by the settlement hierarchy, and asked for further consideration;

·         drew attention to 12.0.4 (Policy H4 Self build and custom build) on page 509, and did not consider deliverability on larger sites was the best way forward;

·         raised concern that 17 (Policy H9 Extending the garden of a dwelling in the countryside) on page 518 went against the Council’s usual approach;

·         highlighted that on page 538, figure 2.22 on Agenda pack – Inset of urban hierarchy of Sittingbourne – land east of A249 was excluded and suggested redrawing the boundary line to include the site where 600 houses had been given planning permission to be built;

·         raised concern about water supply and flooding on the Isle of Sheppey;

·         congratulated officers on the report;

·         raised concern on the lack of detail on solar and the value of BMV land;

·         referred to para 30.0.5 (Policy C5 Renewable energy development and infrastructure) on page 563, and sought clarity on whether the commencement of the permission granted for agrivoltaics was from the date of the grant of permission or the date it was connected as the backlog of connections might override temporary permissions that were granted;

·         drew attention to the current large deficit in patient/GP ratio in Swale, particularly in higher housing development areas, and warned this would increase with more housing and a mechanism for ensuring developer funding was sufficient to provide the facilities necessary was vital;

·         needed to be more specific in the local plan of the GP resources required and where they would be located;

·         referred to Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (SANGS) and said there needed to be a policy to protect these areas from planning applications;

·         should consider the suitable governance arrangements for strategic sites coming forward for potential changes arising from the Community Governance Review;

·         stressed the importance of having robust health and education policies;

·         it was not clear that policies C1 to C5 were unadopted, draft policies;

·         the policy on health should contain specific requirements such as distance to health provision to a new development;

·         it was time to put the document out to Regulation 18 and continue the development of strategic policies for the Regulation 19;

·         there was a section in the Bearing Fruits Local Plan on renewable energy and infrastructure but things had moved on enormously, and it was appropriate for a full re-write of that section;

·         the evidence in policies C1 to C5 was in line with the Corporate Plan and the Climate Change Act and NPPF;

·         referred to Policy C10 that sought major development infrastructure to be connected to mains drainage and wastewater systems before construction commenced as a vital policy;

·         the policies reflected the best possible outcomes and felt pleased they were included as draft policies;

·         the definition of ‘Greenfield’ should be included in the document to avoid future issues;

·         care needed to be taken to consider how the Community Governance Review (CGR) might increase responsibilities to Parish Councils and management companies, and this needed to be factored into the document as soon as possible; and

·         having a limited Regulation 18 had worked well.

The Project Manager (Policy) said the purpose of the rural exception site policy was to ensure that sustainable development was still being sought and it gave the opportunity for local communities who could not afford sites in their area to seek sites to bring forward in the close proximity. Referring to the Policy H4 Self Build Policy, he said that there had been some feedback from site promoters interested in self-build only. The Project Manager (Policy) said there might be some instances where it was appropriate to consider extensions of gardens and it was reasonable to consider through the policy.

The Planning Policy Manager said the diagrams on page 538 had been used on a previous transport model at a point in time, and suggested adding the year they were produced. She added that ordnance survey did not update their base maps very regularly.

The Planning Policy Manager said health provision was covered in the opening sections of the document on page 19 of the Agenda. She said that as health was such a key issue it would have its own strategic policy in the Regulation 19 plan and it would also be picked up through the infrastructure delivery plan and once sites were chosen any requirements that had arisen would be linked in to policies for allocated sites. The Planning Policy Manager advised the Council had signed the Town and Country Planning Association’s Healthy Homes pledge. She advised that the Integrated Care Board would be consulted on the Regulation 18 and officers were proactively engaging with them.

Referring to SANGS, the Planning Policy Manager said that Strategic Access Management and Mitigation Strategy (SAMMs) payments to SANGS was referenced at Policy B1 and more detail would be added to an Environment strategic policy at the Regulation 19 stage. She added that SAMM’s schemes had been introduced country-wide. The Planning Policy Manager listed other policies that would provide recreation and wildlife sites within a development of open space.

The Planning Policy Manager reiterated that all policies in the Regulation 18 document were draft until the Local Plan was adopted after the Examination in Public in 2027.

The Planning Policy Manager said that brownfield and greenfield land had now been added to the glossary, and she encouraged Members to inform the team of any typing errors or grammar that would improve the document’s clarity. Referring to the impact of CGRs, the Planning Policy Manager agreed to circulate a historical report on stewardship models that Members may find useful.

The Policy Manager confirmed where and how the document would be shared for consultation in the borough. She advised that the cost of the document would be too high to place a copy with all Parish Councils but if a Parish Council wished to fund their own copy they could.

Recommended:

(1)  That the Local Plan Regulation 18 document in Appendix 1 and the draft Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report Update in Appendix III be recommended to Policy and Resources Committee for recommendation to Full Council for approval for consultation purposes.

(2)  That the Policy and Resources Committee delegate to the Head of Planning, in consultation with the PTPWG Chair any minor amendments and corrections to the Local Plan Regulation 18 document prior to the start of the consultation period.